The Low-Ranking Civil Servant Wants to Achieve Success Chapter 78

That day at lunchtime, I ate with Victor.

“Victor! Victor!”

“Oh, our student council president! Hear my request, would you?”

“Victor? I need to talk to you…”

But we really did nothing but eat.

Because an overwhelming number of people kept coming up to greet him.

No one showed the slightest interest in me sitting next to him.

“Uh, uh?”

The only person who talked to me was Luka—who usually followed me around chanting about being my rival.

“Why are you eating with the student council president? Have you finally come to your senses and decided to grab some social capital?”

Victor turned to Luka and answered, smiling.

“Hmm? What a lively friend. You must be friends with Namia?”

“Th-then why is senior with Namia? It’s kind of surprising—”

“Me? Well, I got curious about Namia. I plan to hang around her a lot, so don’t be too surprised from now on.”

Victor let out a hearty laugh and patted Luka on the shoulder.

“Anyway, you’re interested in test guides? What subject are you looking for info on?”

Just like that, Victor got friendly with Luka in an instant.

His sociability really was something else.

“Just you wait, Namia.”

After lunch, Victor winked.

“Today was a bust because people kept interrupting, but I still want to hear your story.”

After that, Victor and I had lunch together several more times. He would sometimes come find me in class.

I was always alone. Back in the academy, I found getting close to people extremely burdensome. Since I attended school with Juan, I was constantly afraid that if I made friends, they might say something that would tip him off to my family situation.

So whenever Victor came by, I had no excuse to turn him down, and I had no choice but to deal with him. Before long, we even spent break times together now and then.

Eventually, after Victor botched the civil service exam, we ended up working in the Scroll Department together.

And now…

‘Victor still doesn’t know a thing about my situation…’

It wasn’t that I had gone out of my way to hide it.

There just hadn’t been a single opportunity or moment to really consider whether or not to tell him.
Even thinking about whether to tell him felt like a waste of energy. So I’d stopped considering it early on.

Looking back now, it was actually a very efficient decision.

So.

‘This situation… feels familiar.’

I clicked my tongue as I watched the crowd of civil servants surrounding Victor.

And then—

“Wh-what do you all think you’re doing? In someone else’s department! And right in front of my desk! Are—are you all ignoring me or something?”

Anastasia frowned and slammed her desk with a loud bang.

“Just because we’re only ten people doesn’t mean there’s not much work! I’m the team leader here, got it? I even beat up a criminal who trespassed not long ago!”

Everyone immediately snapped to attention under Anastasia’s pressure.

Looking stiff, they murmured one by one:

“Ah, sorry… We were just so happy to see him again.”

“It’s been over three years. We only wanted to say hello.”

Victor and his friends had something in common. They were all guileless, good-natured people.

Even acting so casually in front of a minister came from that.

Well, I suppose it helped that we’d all known each other since academy days.

“Hey, let’s take this outside.”

“Yeah. Let’s at least greet the guy properly.”

Victor let out a sheepish laugh and scratched his head.

“Oh, wait. I still haven’t heard what happened in our department while I was gone.”

At that, his friends turned to me with awkward smiles, then started teasing Victor.

“Geez.”

As they pushed him to leave, Victor gave a little shrug and set down his coffee cup—it seemed he was going to follow them after all.

I quietly looked into Victor’s sky-colored eyes.

He was the only person who had ever extended a hand to me during those hard times.

So warm, so bright—he was someone I always ended up watching from behind.

I spoke softly, still looking at him.

“Brace yourself. Our department’s busy. We’ve lost over half our staff.”

“Phew, yeah. What is it now, just ten people including the minister?”

Victor chuckled, and I shrugged.

“That means we won’t even have time for personal chit-chat starting tomorrow. Even our intern’s been getting nosebleeds from overwork.”

Victor’s eyes widened in shock.

“Our department… has enough work to require overtime?”

“Starting tomorrow, we’ll be preparing for the Saint Cairo banquet. There’s an event that Her Majesty the Empress and His Highness the Prince will attend.”

I folded my arms, eyes shining.

A scroll event attended by the Empress and Prince. I really wanted to do a perfect job.

It was the best chance to prove that we were no longer the useless old Scroll Management Bureau.

And that was important if I wanted to attract even a few capable new hires in next year’s civil service intake.

Just then—

“Oh, the Saint Cairo banquet!”

One of Victor’s friends shouted from the crowd.

“There was a banquet! Victor, you can go now, right? You’re a marquis’s son!”

“Haha, that’s right! Victor, you’re a high-ranking noble now!”

Victor blinked in surprise, as if he hadn’t thought of that.

Well, he had left on extended assignment not long after becoming the adopted son of Marquis Arwin.

No wonder his new status still felt unfamiliar.

“Oh… right, I hadn’t even considered that. But if it’s a banquet, don’t you need a partner too?”

Victor blinked slowly, then turned to me.

“Namia, you’re going too, right? You’re a minister now.”

“Yes.”

“Do you have a partner?”

“No.”

“Ah, then—”

Just then, Keyvon—who had been silently standing nearby—cut him off.

“Minister.”

Everyone’s attention turned toward Keyvon.

He looked at me and said,

“I’d like to be your partner.”

Anastasia dropped her coffee cup with a shatter. Victor flinched in surprise and furrowed his brow.

I answered calmly.

“Alright.”

Victor’s friends were shocked as well.

One of them, ever the busybody, spoke up.

“Uh, Minister? Interns can’t attend, right? He doesn’t even have a title, and he’s a foreigner.”

“No. It’s just that customarily only high nobles attend. It’s not impossible if they’re invited.”

I scratched my cheek and added,

“And actually, I made a promise to His Highness Prince Jayden earlier. I’d go with whoever asked me first. It’s an imperial decree, so there’s no helping it.”

And I meant it. There really was no helping it.

“Ah, I see…”

Victor mumbled reluctantly, then gave a cheerful smile.

“Well, I’m going anyway. It’s fine. Letting our young foreign intern see an Imperial banquet isn’t a bad thing.”

“Why do you keep calling me a friend? I am not your friend.”

“See? This is why we need to give the kid a proper cultural experience. Doesn’t even know polite language.”

Victor winked at Keyvon and patted me on the shoulder.

“Anyway, guess we’ll just have to talk more during the banquet. Right?”

“Ah, yes.”

“Nobles, huh… I don’t know anyone there. Looks like I’ll have to stick close to you.”

Victor laughed heartily, and his friends joined in with chuckles.

Meanwhile, Keyvon—expressionless as always—spoke in a low voice.

“Shall we go, Minister?”

His tone, unlike Victor’s, was crisp and formal to a fault.

“There is much to do.”

The one who answered that wasn’t me, but Victor.

“Right, right! Good luck. I’ll help a lot once I start tomorrow. Hang in there, little intern buddy. Big bro will be there soon.”

Keyvon said nothing in return. Victor laughed boisterously and disappeared with his friends.

Wow.

One thing was certain:

‘Their personalities are polar opposites—and neither one backs down.’

Keyvon’s anti-social energy and Victor’s social-butterfly power were evenly matched.

And not long after that—

I received word from the Crown Prince’s office, asking me to stop by after work.